Embodiments of the inventive concepts relate to a thermoelectric device, and in particular, to a thermoelectric device including a pair of legs with rugged portions.
Since the use of fossil fuels causes various environmental problems, such as atmospheric pollution, global warming, or an increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, there is a need to replace the fossil fuels with alternative clean energy. One of clean energy sources is a thermoelectric device converting thermal energy into electrical energy. A heat source of the thermoelectric device may be radiant heat (e.g., solar heat), terrestrial heat, body heat, waste heat, and so forth.
The sun is an inexhaustible source of heat energy that is free from environmental pollution. In this sense, there is a need to develop highly efficient thermoelectric devices for using solar heat.
Thermoelectric efficiency of thermoelectric devices may be represented by a value of ZT (Figure of Merit). The value of ZT is proportional to the square of Seebeck coefficient and to electric conductivity, but inversely proportional to thermal conductivity. In most cases, electric conductivity and thermal conductivity of a material have a proportional relationship to each other, and thus, it is hard to increase a value of ZT.